Ridgewood Water advances PFAS, pipe-stabilization and outreach contracts totaling hundreds of thousands

Ridgewood Water officials outlined several capital purchases and construction contracts at the Ridgewood Village Council workshop on June 9 that together will move forward PFAS treatment work, shore up an exposed water main and support public outreach about the utility’s multiyear infrastructure program.

Rich Kalbi, director of Ridgewood Water, told the council the utility is recommending multiple awards: a three-year GIS software support contract for a total of $90,600 ($30,200 per year); early procurement of granular-activated carbon (GAC) treatment vessels and related PFAS vessels from Calgon Carbon Corporation for amounts of $245,340 and $303,523 for two separate facilities; and a $347,100 low bid to Colinelli for bank stabilization of a 20-inch ductile iron main along Dunham Trail in Hocus Brook.

The bank-stabilization work is intended to restore about 320 feet of eroded bank and re-cover an exposed main. “This project is necessary to support the existing main along the bank where it has eroded along Dunham Trail,” Kalbi said. Ridgewood Water expects to seek about $120,000 in FEMA reimbursement for that repair and is funding the remainder from the utility’s capital budget.

Kalbi also described partial awards using municipal paving contracts—up to $650,000 under a Ridgewood paving contract and up to $125,000 under a Wyckoff contract—to support restoration where Ridgewood Water work disturbs roads. He said those and other purchases are funded in the Ridgewood Water capital budget.

Separately, the utility recommended hiring MediaCullet to produce public engagement content — short videos, site footage and worker interviews — about the utility’s investments, for $54,250 from the water operating budget. Kalbi said the outreach will run from June through October and is intended to “educate the public on everything that Ridgewood Water does and the investment that’s been made in the system.” He told the council the work will include drone and on-the-ground footage of active sites and short clips for online distribution.

Council members asked technical and logistical questions about the projects, including whether plantings would accompany the bank stabilization (Kalbi said stone and dirt will be used to prevent erosion and some plantings are likely along the trail but not on the hardened bank), and whether communications staff would lead the outreach effort (Kalbi said the communications director will be one of the principals on the project). No formal votes on these contract awards were recorded on the workshop record; the items were presented and discussed on the agenda.

The presentations also noted approvals or required approvals from outside entities. Kalbi said two treatment-facility projects had received approval from the iBank (the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank) and one project advertisement had a scheduled bid opening; he described one ancillary approval as received from what he referenced as the “Eye Bank” in his remarks, consistent with the meeting text. The council did not take a final vote on the specific procurement resolutions at the workshop.

The utility director’s packet and his remarks at the June 9 meeting list the contractors, bid amounts and funding sources for each project; Kolbi said staff will pursue reimbursements and required outside approvals as projects proceed.